You Will Still be Ugly

As Winston Churchill said, a joke is a very serious thing. It is increasingly easy in the world we live in to chortle and chuckle in response to a particularly witty quip. However, in doing so, we deprive ourselves of diving deeper into the meaning shrouded within a collection of words. We hide behind a superficial understanding of literal meaning rather than deepening analysis so as to uncover true meaning.

This blog will be a journey through the true meaning behind Churchill’s quintessential quotes – please don’t be querulous.

Image Courtesy of Lords of the Drinks

One can only imagine the situation surrounding one of Churchill’s most quoted moments: allow me to paint the picture. Good old Winston is at a gala or ball or dinner party or whatever dignitaries of the time would frequent to prattle on about fancy drinks and how delightful the crudité is. Now Churchill was known as a man to appreciate liquor, so one can imagine a quite proper lady warning him of his drunken stupor, only to be rebuked by Churchill’s unfettered candor: “I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly”.

To think that refined, diplomatic Prime Minister Churchill would retort thusly is an interesting notion. Crude, yes. Harsh, indeed. Comical, undeniably. But, this blog is about asking ourselves, “is there more?” Can we learn anything about ourselves, our lives, our experiences as humans from a saying that comes across as simply entertaining?

Analysis will serve us most if done sequentially throughout the quotation: first, Churchill cedes that he is drunk. It’s a good start for our boy Winston – admitting self-fault is the first step to realization of a potential issue, and it’s valuable in most situations to be aware of one’s own state.

Next, Churchill points out to the unknown debutante that he is presumably speaking to that his condition is quite temporary – in the morning, his drunkenness will be a thing of the past, replaced by nausea, headaches,and dehydration. What an improvement! By afternoon, at least, he’ll be back to normal.

Finally, Churchill concludes in asserting that his conversational victim will maintain whatever homeliness she possesses throughout her life. Taken separately, these three portions of the quote make for an interesting portrayal of the distinguished Prime Minister as a self-aware drunken oaf. However, deeper meaning can be extrapolated.

It feels redundant to point out that permanent conditions are longer lasting than temporary ones, but it’s deeper than a simple temporal comparison. We often succumb to the issues of our immediate condition rather than observing our permanent state (I use permanent loosely in that so little of our world is permanent, but you get the idea).

In high school, I almost had to drop my physics class early on because I lacked a solid foundational understanding. That was my immediate situation – this is hard, I’m not doing so hot, I want to quit. However, slight introspection and self-analysis (Churchill had this down pat) demonstrated to me that my dedication and determination would get me through it. My permanent condition of hard work trumped my immediate condition of poor preparation and I overcame. Churchill’s quip might be insulting, brash, and crass, but there’s a lot more than meets the eye. Like he said, a joke is a very serious thing.